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South Texas Fishing Report: Reds, Trout, and More Along the Rio Grande
Published 4 months, 1 week ago
Description
Name’s Artificial Lure, checking in from down along the Rio Grande and the Lower Laguna side.
We’re starting the day cool and muggy with light north‑northeast wind, mid‑60s at first light warming into the 70s and low 80s by afternoon, with the Brownsville weather office calling for generally dry, warmer‑than‑normal conditions and only a slight coastal shower chance. Winds should freshen mid‑day, laying down again toward evening, so it’s a classic “early and late” kind of day.
Sun pops up around 7:05 a.m. and ducks out close to 5:40 p.m. down here this time of year, giving plenty of low‑light time. Solunar tables for this stretch of South Texas coast show the better feeding windows late morning through early afternoon, with a minor bump right around mid‑morning. If you can fish the first light through that late‑morning major, you’re in the sweet spot.
Tide‑wise, our near‑coastal pattern around the Rio Grande mouth and Boca Chica is a gentle winter swing: a modest incoming through the morning, topping out late morning, then easing back most of the afternoon before a softer evening push. That slow, steady rise has had the trout and reds sliding up on the edges of the ICW spoil banks and into the drains off South Bay.
The last couple days, local captains out of Port Isabel and South Padre have been reporting solid half‑day boxes: 15–20 keeper specks with a couple in the 20–24 inch class, plus 4–8 reds to slot, and scattered drum and sheepshead off the rocks and pilings. The river side has given up a few nice blue and channel cats on cut shad and stinkbait around the deeper bends west of Rio Grande City.
Speckled trout have been chewing soft plastics in natural colors: **paddle‑tails and straight tails in opening night, chicken‑on‑a‑chain, and new penny** on 1/8‑ to 1/4‑ounce jigheads, bounced slow over grass and mud. For reds, **gold spoons, shrimp‑pattern paddletails, and live shrimp under a popping cork** have all been money, especially where that off‑colored ICW water meets clearer bay water. If you’re soaking bait, bring **live or fresh‑dead shrimp, cut mullet, and peeled table shrimp** for drum and sheepshead around structure.
A couple hot spots to circle on the map:
• **South Bay and the lower Rio Grande flats** just north of the river mouth – work the sand pockets and guts on the incoming; that stained, moving water has held reds and a few flounder.
• **ICW edge between Port Isabel and the Brownsville Ship Channel junction** – fish the drop‑offs and any visible bait slicks for trout late morning, and hit the channel pilings for drum and sheepshead with shrimp.
Water’s cool enough that you’ll want to slow everything down: long pauses, subtle twitches, and let that cork sit before you pop it. Downsizing leaders to 15–20 lb fluoro has helped in the clearer stretches.
That’s the word from Artificial Lure on the Rio Grande. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI
We’re starting the day cool and muggy with light north‑northeast wind, mid‑60s at first light warming into the 70s and low 80s by afternoon, with the Brownsville weather office calling for generally dry, warmer‑than‑normal conditions and only a slight coastal shower chance. Winds should freshen mid‑day, laying down again toward evening, so it’s a classic “early and late” kind of day.
Sun pops up around 7:05 a.m. and ducks out close to 5:40 p.m. down here this time of year, giving plenty of low‑light time. Solunar tables for this stretch of South Texas coast show the better feeding windows late morning through early afternoon, with a minor bump right around mid‑morning. If you can fish the first light through that late‑morning major, you’re in the sweet spot.
Tide‑wise, our near‑coastal pattern around the Rio Grande mouth and Boca Chica is a gentle winter swing: a modest incoming through the morning, topping out late morning, then easing back most of the afternoon before a softer evening push. That slow, steady rise has had the trout and reds sliding up on the edges of the ICW spoil banks and into the drains off South Bay.
The last couple days, local captains out of Port Isabel and South Padre have been reporting solid half‑day boxes: 15–20 keeper specks with a couple in the 20–24 inch class, plus 4–8 reds to slot, and scattered drum and sheepshead off the rocks and pilings. The river side has given up a few nice blue and channel cats on cut shad and stinkbait around the deeper bends west of Rio Grande City.
Speckled trout have been chewing soft plastics in natural colors: **paddle‑tails and straight tails in opening night, chicken‑on‑a‑chain, and new penny** on 1/8‑ to 1/4‑ounce jigheads, bounced slow over grass and mud. For reds, **gold spoons, shrimp‑pattern paddletails, and live shrimp under a popping cork** have all been money, especially where that off‑colored ICW water meets clearer bay water. If you’re soaking bait, bring **live or fresh‑dead shrimp, cut mullet, and peeled table shrimp** for drum and sheepshead around structure.
A couple hot spots to circle on the map:
• **South Bay and the lower Rio Grande flats** just north of the river mouth – work the sand pockets and guts on the incoming; that stained, moving water has held reds and a few flounder.
• **ICW edge between Port Isabel and the Brownsville Ship Channel junction** – fish the drop‑offs and any visible bait slicks for trout late morning, and hit the channel pilings for drum and sheepshead with shrimp.
Water’s cool enough that you’ll want to slow everything down: long pauses, subtle twitches, and let that cork sit before you pop it. Downsizing leaders to 15–20 lb fluoro has helped in the clearer stretches.
That’s the word from Artificial Lure on the Rio Grande. Thanks for tuning in, and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next report. This has been a quiet please production, for more check out quiet please dot ai.
Great deals on fishing gear https://amzn.to/44gt1Pn
This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI